Devils Blow Lead, Settle For Tie

Once the shot by Chris Gratton hit the stick of goalie Martin Brodeur and popped in the air, it became a free-for-all.

Players on both teams couldn't immediately remember exactly what happened as the puck nestled in the Devils net with 3:45 remaining in the third period. On one point they could all agree: the Flyers had fought back from a two-goal deficit in the third period to forge a 5-5 tie Tuesday night.

The goal was credited to Rod Brind'Amour, who felt Brodeur knocked it into his own net.

"I think Brodeur might have tried to whack it and it hit his arm and he knocked it in himself ," Brind'Amour said. "It was hard to tell. It doesn't really matter as long as it counts."

Brodeur lost track once the puck hit his stick.

"These guys just batted it out of the air," he said. "I didn't really see it. I saw it when I picked it up to take it out of the net."

The goal capped a seesaw contest which featured several momentum shifts. The Flyers rode the last of the swings to the dramatic comeback tie.

"When you are down two in the third period in this league, you don't get many comebacks," said Flyers coach Roger Neilson. "Overall, it was a pretty wild game."

New Jersey's Denis Pederson is upended by Petr Svboda in the first period. (AP)

Prior to the Brind'Amour score, Eric Lindros scored his second power-play goal of the game at 13:09 to spark the comeback.

Jody Hull and Danius Zubrus also scored for the Flyers, who salvaged a point in the opener of the home-and-home series. The tems meet again Thursday night in Philadelphia.

Bobby Holik, Jason Arnott, Dave Andreychuk, Patrik Elias and Brian Rolston scored for New Jersey, which extended its unbeaten streak to five (3-0-2). The Devils are also unbeaten in their last eight on home ice (5-0-3)

The Devils dominated at the start before the goals by Lindros and Hull in a span of 55 seconds swung the pendulum in the Flyers favor.

Lindros converted a perfect pass from John LeClair for the opening goal at 11:11. Hull also beat Brodeur from the slot as the Flyers went ahead 2-0.

Good hustle by Krzysztof Oliwa set up a goal by Holik that trimmed the Flyers' lead to 2-1 with 3:24 remaining in the period.

New Jersey got second-period goals from Arnott, Andreychuk and Elias to take a 4-3 lead.

Arnott pulled the Devils even at 2-2 with a power-play tally at 2:01. Zubrus took a feed from Mike Sillinger in center ice and carried the puck to the right circle before rifling a shot past Brodeur at 8:37 to put Philadelphia back in front at 3-2.

Andreychuk countered at 13:33 on a goal that started with a dump-in by Brendan Morrison. The puck bounced off the corner boards and Flyers goalie John Vanbiesbrouck tried to steer it out of danger. He wound up tipping it right to Andreychuk.

Elias gave New Jersey its first lead of the game at 16:42 when he converted a centering pass from Sykora.

Ron Hextall replaced Vanbiesbrouck to start the third period and gave up the goal to Rolston at 12:06 that gave New Jersey a seemingly secure 5-3 lead.

"I look at this as we lost a point," Holik said. "We didn't play well defensively. The Flyers were ripe for us to beat them. They were waiting for us to put the last nail in the coffin."

Notes